New Garage Cost Per Square Foot?
wildpastures
17 years ago
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boxcar_grower
17 years agoideamom
17 years agoRelated Discussions
What's your rough cost per square foot estimate?
Comments (56)Hey bobyoe! Glad you straightened that out for everyone! However, your comments do raise an issue that "$ per sq. ft" obsessed folks need to think about when they talk to a builder. It's the cost of the whole project that counts, not just the cost of the house. Plus, the features, finishes, and location of the house within a market area can make a 10,000 sq ft house cost less than a 6,000 sq ft. house. No one gave us a good ballpark estimate for things like professional fees, permits, impact fees, drainage systems, or site work before we started. Most of those items were not related to the size of the house. Those costs will end up being about 18% of the total project costs. No one could convince my "$ per sq ft obsessed husband" that the features he wanted in our house were equivalent to building multiple luxury kitchens. He is convinced now :-). Same thing goes for the outside entertainment areas. He thought the covered areas should be priced like a garage. Wrong. The spec'd finishes bring the entertainment areas to a higher cost for build out than any non-plumbed room in the airconditioned space. The thing that I think we could all agree about is that you can buy an existing home at a significantly lower cost per sq. ft. in today's market. Major builders are dumping new 5 and 6 bedroom 8,000 sq ft homes in our county for $600-$800K. Yeah, they are in outlying areas on small lots, but they are brand new homes. So, in addition to size and features, you have to price in: 1. supply and demand, and 2. location within a location. We are in Palm Beach County, Florida. Our lot costs vary from $20 million per acre on the ocean in Palm Beach, $10 million per ocean front acre 15 miles south on the same island, $2-5 million per acre intracoastal waterway on the same island, and $50,000 for a 1/4 acre builder's lot 15 miles west of the ocean where the national builders are dumping their inventory. Why bring lot costs into the discussion? It's because builders will hit you hard for building in an area of high land costs. I guess they think they are entitled to a big premium if you are paying premium prices for your lot. That's my 2 cents for the day!...See MoreAny idea what is the going cost per square foot in DFW?
Comments (6)per sq foot costs are almost impossible to guesstimate. Too many variable involved. How much of your sq footage is "cheap to build" space like bedrooms and garage as compared to how much is "expensive to build" space like kitchens and bathrooms? Is the house shape a simple rectangle or one with lots of corners and things like bay windows? All on one floor or two or more floors? Basement? What kind of roofing? What kind of siding? What kind of foundation? Lots of windows and doors or a bare minimum? Lots of built in cabinets/bookcases or a bare minimum? Will you be going "builder grade" on all or most of the plumbing and electrical fixtures or do you want the ability to upgrade? Building in town or out in the country? If out in the country, do you already have septic installed? Electricity run to the site? Water already on site? Will you need to build a long driveway? Etc? Etc? Etc? You might TRY to linked site which purports to give you an estimate of the cost to build in various zip codes. I don't give any guarantees on how accurate it is but it can't be any worse than the off the cuff guesses you're likely to get on this site. Here is a link that might be useful: residential building cost calculator...See MoreHome Construction Cost Per Square Foot
Comments (37)In the end, there are largely two types of people who comment on these threads. Those who are building houses and those who have built houses. While I admit certain people who have built houses in the past are a bit jaded, I think you need to realize that experience does count for something. I advise those who are starting the process to not so quickly discount the advice of those who have been through the process. I have built two houses in the past and was solidly into building the third when I decided not to do it. I had firm pricing to get it done and was pretty confident that I had an initial cost laid out, and my house came back more significantly higher than the OP's. Construction labor in my area is only 8% higher than Texas, but my house came back at almost 30% higher, and this price didn't include flooring, bathroom fixtures or cabinets. I do realize that it is possible for this to happen but become concerned that the OP is focusing on the wrong items. I feel my concern was validated when he posted the specs of his custom build. A 14 SEER AC in Texas is a bit silly. In fact, it doesn't even meet the currently enacted future minimums. The marginal cost of 16 or 17 SEER is reasonable in North Texas, which has something like 3,000 cooling degree days. My experience tells me that this isn't the only questionable thing going on here. Someone who is willing to cut that corner is probably going to cut others. The question isn't whether or not you can build a house in North Texas for $120 per square - the question is should you build a house in North Texas for $120 per square. In the end, labor and overhead are only so much of the build. Please don't feel the need to answer that question for me. I don't need, or even care, to know. However, you might consider listening to some of the people who have completed their build, because it is tends to be a bit of a humbling experience....See MoreCost per square foot to jackhammer Travertine in 12 x 16 ft kitchen?
Comments (3)Thanks for the input. We built our home which is poured concrete floors and walls and totally understand the "on your knees " jobs. We have travertine in the entire interior of our house about 1500 square feet and over 2400 sq. feet of patios and courtyard outside. Other than a few areas which have pitted and were easily filled with Traverfill it looks great. The kitchen was a poor choice for travertine even with repeated sealing. The kitchen has french doors on opposite walls and gets major walk thru traffic. I cook and bake and serve to our outdoor dining room so there are regular spills and stains. I thought of putting a floating floor on top of the tile and just raise the threshold on both french doors. The threshold is already raised to prevent water from a tropical storm from entering the house. But the doorway to the inside living room would create a tripping hazard. The tool you used sounds like a hammer drill with a special blade. We have to use a hammer drill to even put a tapcon in the wall to hang a picture. I can barely lift it. Living on St. John has it's challenges and I will have to find a porcelain tile with a travertine look, Have it shipped in and then have the tile removed. It sounds like it could be done in a week if I have all the materials ready to go, including the laborers. We will have to put 4 x 8 sheets of plywood against the cabinets to prevent damage from the drill and tile removal. Sounds like I should have the tile jacked while my husband is away. I appreciate the advice. It just confirms what I imagined would be required to have a new floor. I attached a picture before we finished the house as the tile was completed....See Moreblinddog
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